Chinese New Car Imports Hit 117,000 Units in May

Wang Cun, head of China Automobile Trading’s marketing and sales division declared that in May, China imported a total of 117,000 cars, up 62% from the same period last year.

China imported 114,800 passenger automobiles, and a total of 489,500 vehicles from January to May, 27.6% over the same period last year. The most imported category remained the SUV, with 61,100 units in May, 53.2% of the total figure. Sedan imports reached 48,200 units. Both SUV and sedan hit year-on-year growth rates of 65.7% and 35.4%. The minivan imports increased the most with 74.4% up than the previous May.

From the total of 479,000 passenger cars imported from January to May, the highest year-on-year growth rate was held by sedan models, up 38.3%. For minivans and SUVs year-on-year growth rates for the same period totaled 30.9% and 19.1%, respectively.

Also in May China’s oil imports from Iran hit a record level, with 2,220,000 tones of crude, up 35% from April 2012, reaching 524,000 barrels a day. This means that Beijing was not intimidated by the US pressures. The Chinese foreign minister even declared in a press conference that oil imports from Iran are both legitimate and legal.